Author: Kalantarian Kevo

ARMENIAN, RUSSIAN PMS TO DISCUSS YEREVAN’S ACCESSION TO EURASIAN ECONOMIC UNION

The Voice of Russia
July 10 2014

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev will meet with his Armenian
counterpart Hovik Abrahamyan in Sochi on July 11 to discuss the
Armenian accession to the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).

“I will meet with the Russian prime minister in Sochi the day after
tomorrow. We will meet and speak about all issues and timeframes.

After our return to Yerevan we will give you complete information,”
Abrahamyan told reporters on Wednesday.

When he was asked about a delay in the Armenian entry into the EEU,
Abrahamyan said that “there are no reasons for delay. We will join the
EEU; we have implemented every agreement and this matter is unrelated
to Nagorno-Karabakh.”

WHAT DO FOREIGNERS THINK ABOUT ARMENIAN GIRLS?

July 10, 2014 | 20:00

YEREVAN. – Armenian girls are beautiful but they are very much focused
on their appearance, foreigners say.

The Armenian News-NEWS.am correspondent talked to the foreigners in
Yerevan to learn what they think about Armenian girls.

“I feel like they judge each other a lot. And I realized that Armenian
girls, especially in Yerevan, are obsessed with social media, putting
pictures on Facebook and making sure they are looking good,” one of
them said.

One of the girls we talked to said the Armenian girls are much focused
on their beauty.

“When they are in Northern Avenue, they are dressed as if they are
going to a very special night club,” one of the foreigners added.

News from Armenia – NEWS.am

A JOLT FOR HEART HEALTH IN ZANGEZUR

Thursday, July 10th, 2014

Dr. Karen Hambardzumyan and Nurse Gayane Babayan conduct an angiography

GORIS, Armenia–Before Armenia Fund built a modern cardiology center
in Goris, some people would have to drive hundreds of miles to get
help in Yerevan. With the project now complete, residents of southern
Armenia and Artsakh have world-class cardiac care close to home.

It’s only a slight discomfort at first. Then it gets worse. And worse
still. It becomes hard to breathe. Your chest is so tight it feels like
you’re trapped underneath a rock. It’s a heart attack and you need to
go to the emergency room – every minute counts. But you’re in Goris
and the nearest cardiac emergency center is in Yerevan, 150 miles away.

The lack of adequate medical care in areas outside of the capital
city is an issue that Armenia Fund takes seriously. When it was
evaluating different projects and realized that Syunik — where
Goris is located and the largest region of Armenia after Artsakh —
did not have anywhere to properly treat heart disease, it went to work.

Choosing to build a center that specializes in heart health was done as
purposefully and deliberately as the construction of any Armenia Fund
project: according to the World Health Organization, heart disease,
the main cause of heart attacks, is the primary cause of death in
middle- and low-income countries.

Similarly, Goris was chosen because of its central location in Syunik,
accessible to all parts of southern Armenia. It is also able to serve
Artsakh more easily than any other location in Syunik because it is the
origin of another Armenia Fund project, the Goris-Stepanakert Highway.

Entrance to Goris Cardiology Center

The two-story cardiology center was built to hold 16 beds and has a
polyclinic which is able to accommodate up to 20 emergency patients a
day. It is also equipped with central heating, a necessary feature for
a building in the high-altitude – thus often cold – climate of Syunik.

The facility was also equipped with state-of-the-art medical equipment
imported from France; in Armenia, similar wares can otherwise only
be found in Yerevan.

Besides the structure, the Goris Cardiology Center was provided with
ambulances to be used for emergency patient pick-ups. In addition to
transporting patients to the Center, the ambulances work with the
local emergency room at Zangezur Hospital to pick up patients that
need other types of care and drop them off at the hospital.

In the constantly developing world of biotechnology and medicine, the
whole staff of the cardiology center is sent to France for extensive
training. Additionally, the French Armenian Doctors Association sends
experts among its ranks to provide onsite training to local doctors.

Local and international doctors stay overnight in special rooms built
for medical personnel, making them available 24 hours a day for any
emergency cases.

As important as urgent care is in treating heart disease, the best way
to ensure a longer life for patients is through preventive care for
at-risk patients and continued care for those currently suffering from
the disease. The Goris Cardiology Center provides both preventive and
continued care to those who need it while acting as an indispensable
life support system for serious cases that need advanced medical
attention in Yerevan or elsewhere.

Although the Goris Cardiology Center provides high-quality healthcare,
because it is serving a population that might not otherwise be able
to afford it, the cost to patients is subsidized and any additional
costs beyond what the patient is able to pay are covered.

Goris, the rest of Syunik, and the whole of Artsakh have about 300,000
people – about 10 percent of Armenia’s population — whereas these
regions account for over half of Armenia’s territory. True to its
humanitarian mission, Armenia Fund built the cardiology center so
that residents in this expansive part of the country would receive
the medical attention they deserve, no matter where they lived. That’s
why when a person from Kapan, Syunik’s capital, suffers a heart attack
and is being rushed by an ambulance to the nearest appropriate medical
facility, it doesn’t zip past Goris, 45 miles away, to drive another
150 miles to Yerevan. Today, the first stop for that ambulance is
the new cardiology center. For the victim of a heart attack, every
minute counts.

TABLET FOUND IN ARMENIAN CHURCH RUINS IN TURKEY

19:32 10.07.2014

Armenian Church, Turkey

In the ruins of the Surp Asvadavin Mother Mary Church, which is
located on Mount Mereto in the eastern province of Batman’s Sason
district, a historical tablet and some historical artifacts have been
discovered. The tablet and pieces were delivered to the Batman Museum
Directorate, the Hurriyet Daily News reports.

The ruins of the Armenian church, some part of which was damaged in
2012, were cleaned by the Istanbul-based Sason Armenians Association
Chairman Aziz Dagci with 10 people. They found the historic pieces
during the cleaning.

He said they had removed the ruins for restoration under the
surveillance of Batman Museum officials. “When we removed the ruins,
we found a big tablet with Armenian writing on it. We also found
historical horseshoes and some Armenian historical figures,” Dagci
said, adding they had delivered them to the Batman Museum.

The historical pieces will be examined in the Istanbul Armenian
Patriarchate, he said. “Our goal is to restore this church, which
collapsed two years ago. The church is located on the peak of the
2,973-meter-high Mount Mereto. We estimate that these remains date back
to 2,000 years ago. We also applied to the Batman Governor’s Office
for the construction of a different road to the church,” he said.

EU APPROVED ONLY 9% OF APPLICATIONS OF ASYLUM SEEKERS FROM ARMENIA IN 2013

by Tatevik Shahunyan

ARMINFO
Thursday, July 10, 14:10

According to the report of the European Asylum Support Office, the
EU countries rejected about 90% of application of asylum seekers from
Armenia in 2013 (down 11% versus 2012), Azatutyun.am says.

A total of 5,585 applications from the citizens of Armenia were
considered in 2013, with only 500 of them being approved.

The report says that over 435,000 persons applied for asylum in the
European Union in 2013 (up 30% versus 2012).

The number of applicants from Russia grew to 71% in 2013.

The main countries providing asylum to the refugees are Germany,
France, Sweden, the UK and Italy.

WIFE’S ARMENIAN ROOTS MAY COST AZERBAIJANI COMPOSER HIS CAREER

July 10, 2014 | 15:37

The Azerbaijan Ministry of Culture and Tourism has “clarified” the
situation in which Azerbaijani composer Rauf Aliyev–who is one of
the composers of the national anthem of Azerbaijan–has found himself.

Aliyev is being pressured because his wife is an ethnic Armenian
and his daughter is Roya Mirzoyeva, who had sought political asylum
in Armenia.

The Ministry Press Service Head Zohre Aliyeva informed that the
discussion of this matter is a normal process, and added that when
receiving the composition on the Azerbaijani national anthem, they
knew nothing about Aliyev’s family.

In January, Rauf Aliyev’s daughter–Azerbaijani citizen–Roya
Mirzoyeva, together with his husband Javid Orujev and three children,
had sought political asylum in Armenia. In this connection, Rauf
Aliyev had stated in a press conference that he disowns his daughter.

TOP OFFICIAL: ARMENIAN PRESIDENT COMPLETELY LOST HIS SENSE OF RELEVANCE AND PROMINENCE

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 9 2014

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 9

By Sabina Ahmadova – Trend:

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan seems to have completely lost
his sense of relevance and prominence, Azerbaijani Presidential
Administration’s Deputy Head and Director of Administration’s Foreign
Relations Department, Novruz Mammadov tweeted.

Mammadov underscored that Sargsyan saw the same attitude in Argentina
that he’s used to see in the Caucasus region.

“In Buenos Aires too he felt he would be given a warm welcome like
in Yerevan. Given the opposite, he ended up complaining to Eduardo
Eurnekian, an Argentinean entrepreneur of Armenian origin,” Azerbaijani
top official noted.

Argentinean media reported that Sargsyan and an Armenian delegation led
by him had to wait for three hours to meet with Argentinean President
Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

But afterwards, they were told that Argentina’s president will not
be able to take part at the meeting due to health problems.

Reportedly, then, Armenian president was proposed to take part in
a lunch with Argentina’s Vice President Amado Boudou and Foreign
Minister Hector Timerman in the Palacio San Martin hotel.

Serzh Sargsyan paid an official visit to Argentina from July 6 to
July 8.

PRINCIPLES OF SETTLING NAGORNO-KARABAKH CONFLICT CLEAR, AZERBAIJANI DEPUTY FM SAYS

Trend, Azerbaijan
July 9 2014

Baku, Azerbaijan, July 9

By Sabina Ahmadova- Trend:

There are concrete issues in the settlement of Armenian-Azerbaijani
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, and clear principles for their solution,
Azerbaijani Deputy Foreign Minister, Araz Azimov told reporters on
July 9.

Azimov made the remarks commenting on a statement made by the OSCE
Minsk Group U.S. Co-Chair James Warlick on the status quo in the
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.

Earlier, the OSCE Minsk Group’s U.S. Co-chair James Warlick tweeted
that the status quo in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict is “increasingly
dangerous”.

Araz Azimov said Azerbaijan has repeatedly stated that it is ready
for negotiations to achieve a progress in the solution of problems.

The deputy foreign minister noted that Azerbaijan’s proposals in
these negotiations are known.

Azimov said that firstly it is necessary to take specific measures,
such as the agenda, chronological order and parallel measures for
liberation of the occupied territories, transfer of control over the
occupied territories to Azerbaijan with the withdrawal of forces from
these lands, restoration of local authorities, and improvement work.

He said only after this it will be possible to work on the steps for
a peaceful co-existence.

“After the return of Azerbaijani population of Nagorno-Karabakh,
both communities will be learning to live together again, cooperation
will be established, and it will be possible to discuss the political
issues after this stage. If that’s what James Warlick means, then I
agree with him,” Azimov said.

The conflict between the two South Caucasus countries began in
1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. As a
result of the ensuing war, in 1992 Armenian armed forces occupied
20 percent of Azerbaijan, including the Nagorno-Karabakh region and
seven surrounding districts.

The two countries signed a ceasefire agreement in 1994. The co-chairs
of the OSCE Minsk Group, Russia, France and the U.S. are currently
holding peace negotiations.

Armenia has not yet implemented the U.N. Security Council’s four
resolutions on the liberation of the Nagorno-Karabakh and the
surrounding regions.

SETTLING ISSUE OF NAGORNO-KARABAKH’S SELF-DETERMINATION RATHER THAN TALKS OF UNILATERAL CONCESSIONS – SEYRAN OHANYAN

21:19 * 09.07.14

Armenia’s Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan calls for settling the
issue of Nagorno-Karabakh’s self-determination instead of speaking
of unilateral concessions.

In an interview with the Armenpress news agency Minister Ohanyan
commented on US Ambassador to Armenia John Heffern’s statement
that returning seven regions to Azerbaijan meets Nagorno-Karabakh’s
interests.

“What do mutual concessions mean if this is a unilateral concession?

They had better think of settling the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh’s
self-determination, restoring the right to self-determination in their
forefathers’ land. The rest, whatever compromise may be reached, will
be the result of political and military examinations,” Ohanyan said.

In an interview with Asekose.am, the US ambassador noted that the six
points on the settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict set forth
by US Co-Chair of the OSCE Minsk Group James Warlick had been made
known long before.

Armenian News – Tert.am

TURKEY’S KURDISTAN: A MULTICULTURAL SOCIETY

Cihan News Agency (CNA), Turkey
July 8, 2014 Tuesday

ISTANBUL (CIHAN)- I have already spoken about the variety of political
streams in what the Kurdish citizens of Diyarbakir (Amed) like to call
— without any ulterior motive — “Turkey’s Kurdistan” or “Northern
Kurdistan.” It is just a natural name inherited by history. However,
the land of Kurdistan is not inhabited only by Kurds. The ethnic and
cultural tissue of this land is even more varied than its political
structure. “Kurds” and “Kurdish” are appellations that are too general.

A living picture of this multiculturalism appeared when we met some
members of the Council of Forty (Kirklar Meclisi) in the courtyard of
the Surp Giragos Church, the biggest Armenian church in the Middle
East, recently restored at the initiative of Sur Mayor Abdullah
Demirbas. The Council of Forty, organized by Demirbas, brings 46
members representing various communities in rural Diyarbakir together
regularly. Around the table are leaders from the Nakshibendi, Armenian,
Syriac, Nur, Keldani, Turkmen Alevi and Domani (Roms of Kurdistan)
communities. I must confess that I was not only impressed by this
plurality but also became aware of my ignorance in the course of the
discussions we had.

I learned, for example, that Zazas define themselves as Kurds but speak
a very different language from Kurdish Kurmanchi. And Zazas are not
exclusively Alevis living in Dersim; some of them are Sunnis living
in neighboring provinces. Seyh Said, the leader of a Kurdish uprising
in 1925, was a Zaza. I also learned that there are dozens of Turkmen
Alevi villages in Diyarbakir and that there are still four Jewish
households in Diyarbakir. They prefer not to reveal their identity,
which explains, according to Demirbas, why a synagogue is lacking on
his “Street of Cultures,” where a historical mosque, the Surp Giragos
Church, the Keldani Catholic Church and an Alevi house of worship
all welcome their own believers side by side. Unlike Jews, every day
more people are revealing their Armenian identity. Ergun Ayik, the
president of the Diyarbakir Surp Giragos Armenian Church Foundation,
told us that in the recent past there were only eight Armenians in
Diyarbakir, but now he counts more than 100. Sehmuz Diken, the author
of “Gittiler Iste” (They Have Left), a story of Diyarbakir’s Armenians,
added that hundreds of thousands of descendants of the Armenians who
survived the genocide remain in the region and have started to reveal
their multiple identities.

After the roundtable we visited the Keldani Catholic Church, also
recently restored, which dates back to the fifth century. Yusuf
Karadayi, the leader of the Keldani community, gave us an archive
document describing the Ottoman census done in 1869. According to the
document, in addition to 10,000 Muslims, roughly 8,000 Armenians,
1,500 Syriacs, 1,000 Keldani, 300 Greeks and 300 Jews were living
in Diyarbakir. One thinks about how not just Diyarbakir but Turkey
might have been different if the tragedies during the building of
the nation-state had not occurred.

Demirbas, tireless defender of multiculturalism, was elected mayor
in 2004 with more than 50 percent of the vote, but he was removed
from office and jailed in 2007 because he decided to provide local
services in six languages. He was re-elected in 2009 with over 60
percent of the vote. Diyarbakir liked and embraced the cultural
tolerance. The Sur Municipality erected a monument in the name of
the victims of ethnic cleansings. On the monument one can read, “We
experienced the pain so that it is not suffered again,” in Kurdish,
Turkish, English, Armenian, Hebrew and Pontus Greek. So, it is not so
surprising to learn that a demonstration organized by LGBT (Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transsexual) individuals was recently held in
Diyarbakir but it was not possible to hold such demonstration in Bursa.

Before finishing this piece, let me remark that multiculturalism
presents a great challenge to offering an education in the mother
tongue. Indeed, Kurmanchi, the most used language in the region, may
not be the only new language in the future. Education in other mother
tongues should also be considered. As I noted in my last column,
learning Turkish perfectly is a must in order to prevent inequality
of opportunity; a double language education system should be envisaged.

The approach of the recently established Selahaddin Eyubi University
regarding this issue is worthy of note. They decided to make Turkish
the main language of education but to also push the students to learn
English through intensive courses given by instructors who are native
speakers as well as to encourage all students to learn Kurmanchi.

However, Kurmanchi will be obligatory for students in the university’s
medical faculty. And last but not least, the students in the commerce
department have to learn Syriac!

SEYFETTIN GURSEL (Cihan/Today’s Zaman) CIHAN